7th Circ. Says Compilation Copyright Doesn't Cover Article

By Elliot Weld

The Seventh Circuit has held that a publishing organization's copyright on a collection of writings doesn't automatically confer copyright protection on an individual article within that collection, affirming summary judgment in favor of two individuals who published that article as part of a book.

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​​​​​​​Drugmakers Seek To Bar 'Big Pharma' Label In Price-Fix Trial

By Mark Payne

A group of generic-drug makers facing price-fixing claims brought by dozens of state attorneys general asked a Connecticut federal judge to bar or limit the use of terms like "Big Pharma" or "rising costs of pharmaceuticals and healthcare" in next year's trial.

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7th Circ. Revives Bakery's Suit Over Business License Denial

By Celeste Bott

A bakery owner who was refused a business license after hosting an event featuring "infused" treats can revive her constitutional lawsuit against officials of a Chicago suburb, the Seventh Circuit ruled Monday, finding that a lower court wrongly concluded the suit was barred because she had previously challenged the denial in state court.

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Playground Equipment Makers Abandon Deal After FTC Action

By Matthew Perlman

PlayPower has abandoned its planned purchase of fellow private equity-backed playground equipment maker BCI Burke after the Federal Trade Commission and a dozen states moved to challenge the deal.

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AGs Sue To Block Treasury Rule Ending Shell Co. Reporting

By Jon Hill and Craig Clough

Nearly two dozen states sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its rollback of ownership reporting requirements for corporate entities, arguing the move constitutes an illegal, unilateral repeal of an anti-financial crime law that Congress enacted.

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Carmaker FCA Inks $5M Deal To Settle Jeep Hybrid Defect Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

FCA US LLC has agreed to pay up to $5 million to resolve proposed class claims alleging it sold Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid vehicles with a defect that renders electric driving unavailable, while class counsel plans to seek an additional $2 million in fees, costs, expenses and incentive awards.

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Womble Bond Adds Real Estate Pro In Houston

By Nate Beck

Womble Bond Dickinson said it has added a transaction-focused partner to its real estate practice with nearly two decades of legal experience. 

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NFL Coverage Ruling Sets Limits On Long-Tail Claim Defenses

A New York appellate court's recent decision — holding that National Football League players who sustained neurological injuries had suffered multiple occurrences for insurance coverage purposes — may also be used to limit insurers' efforts to declaim coverage for other long-tail injury cases, including sexual abuse claims, say attorneys at SDV Fenchurch.

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Open Issues After 2nd Circ.'s Airport Phone Search Ruling

While the Second Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Alisigwe decision confirms border agents' broad authority to conduct routine manual cellphone searches at ports of entry, significant questions remain about more wide-ranging forensic searches at the border, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

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Judge Hellerstein, Gruff Moderator Of Major Cases, Dies At 92

By Pete Brush

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, a former litigator and sometimes impatient Manhattan federal jurist who presided over decades of high-profile cases that often came under close appellate scrutiny, died Wednesday at the age of 92.

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Texan Claims Austin Firm Hasn't Alerted Him To Data Breach

By Andrea Keckley

Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP, an Austin, Texas-based law firm focused on collecting debts and taxes for public-sector clients, failed to protect its clients' personal information from a data breach, the plaintiff in a proposed class action claimed in Texas federal court Tuesday.

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BakerHostetler Malpractice Case To Expand With RICO Claim

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia federal judge has allowed a trustee who has accused BakerHostetler and an Atlanta-based attorney of legal malpractice to file an amended complaint after the trustee asked to add claims of Georgia RICO Act violations.

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Weil To Wind Down As Top Attorneys Abandon Firm

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson, Alex Wittenberg and Aebra Coe

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, the restructuring powerhouse that led Lehman Brothers, Enron and General Motors through bankruptcy, told Law360 Pulse Wednesday that the firm is preparing to wind down operations.

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NJ Atty Mishandled Property Damage Dispute, Court Told

By Hope Patti

A man told a New Jersey federal court that he was forced to pay excessive and avoidable fees to an attorney hired to represent him in a property damage dispute after the attorney mishandled the case by failing to advise him to tender the claim to his homeowners insurer.

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BigLaw Tip Middleman To Admit Role In $3.5M Trading Scheme

By Chris Villani

An alleged middleman in a sweeping scheme to trade off of deal information stolen from major law firms has agreed to plead guilty and potentially faces a prison term of nearly a decade, according to a plea agreement filed Wednesday in Massachusetts federal court.

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Mich. Judge Weighs Toshiba Legal Bills Discovery Fight

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether she needs to review specific objections to DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy Co.'s multimillion-dollar attorney fee request before deciding whether Toshiba Corp. must disclose its own legal bills and litigation expenses following a nearly $394.4 million jury verdict over a botched power plant overhaul.

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Proskauer, Reddit Attys Called To Testify In Data-Scraping Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A New York federal judge on Wednesday called for live testimony from two Proskauer Rose LLP attorneys and Reddit's deputy general counsel as he weighs the law firm's bid to represent Perplexity AI in a lawsuit from Reddit, the firm's former client, over alleged data scraping.

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SC Gov.'s Counsel Still In The Running For Federal Judgeship

By Courtney Bublé

The chief legal counsel for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is "being actively considered" for a federal judgeship, according to the White House, but it's not a done deal yet.

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